Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The statements included herein that are not based solely on historical facts are “forward looking statements.” Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by us in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed below and under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 filed with the SEC on August 6, 2021.
Overview
We are a cloud-based provider of payroll and human capital management (“HCM”) software solutions. Our comprehensive product suite delivers a unified platform to create a modern workplace for our clients through automation, data-driven insights and engagement. Our product suite enables professionals to make strategic decisions in the areas of payroll, human capital management, workforce management, talent management, benefits, modern workforce solutions and analytics & insights, all while promoting a modern workplace and improving employee engagement.
We designed our cloud-based platform to provide a unified suite of modules using a multi-tenant architecture. Our solutions are highly flexible and configurable and feature a modern, intuitive user experience. Our platform offers automated data integration with over 400 related third-party systems, such as 401(k), benefits and insurance provider systems. We have invested in, and we intend to continue to invest in, research and development to expand our product offerings and advance our platform.
We believe there is a significant opportunity to grow our business by increasing our number of clients and we intend to invest in our business to achieve this purpose. We market and sell our solutions through our direct sales force. We have increased our sales and marketing expenses as we have added sales representatives and related sales and marketing personnel. We intend to continue to grow our sales and marketing organization across new and existing geographic territories. In addition to growing our number of clients, we intend to grow our revenue over the long term by increasing the number and quality of products that clients purchase from us. To do so, we must continue to enhance and grow the number of solutions we offer to advance our platform.
We also believe that delivering a positive service experience is an essential element of our ability to sell our solutions and retain our clients. We seek to develop deep relationships with our clients through our unified service model, which has been designed to meet the service needs of mid-market organizations. We expect to continue to invest in and grow our implementation and client service organization as our client base grows.
In order to continue to grow our business over the long term, we will continue to invest, across our entire organization. These investments include increasing the number of personnel across all functional areas, along with improving our solutions and infrastructure to support our growth. The timing and amount of these investments vary based on the rate at which we add new clients, add new personnel and scale our application development and other activities. Many of these investments will occur in advance of experiencing any direct benefit from them, which will make it difficult to determine if we are effectively allocating our resources. We expect these investments to increase our costs on an absolute basis, but as we grow our number of clients and our related revenues, we anticipate that we will gain economies of scale and increased operating leverage. As a result, we expect our gross and operating margins will improve over the long term.
Paylocity Holding Corporation is a Delaware corporation, which was formed in November 2013. Our business operations are conducted by our wholly owned subsidiaries.
COVID-19 Impact
The novel coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) continues to impact the global economy. The duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the long-term effects the pandemic will have on our clients and general economic conditions, remain uncertain and difficult to predict. Many of our prospective and existing clients’ businesses have been impacted by business closures and other restrictive orders, which has resulted in reduced employee headcount, temporary and permanent business closures, and/or delayed sales/starts. Even though we have seen improvements in the overall macroeconomic conditions, our business and financial performance may continue to be unfavorably impacted in